Shinobu Sensui
Shinobu Sensui (仙水忍, Sensui Shinobu) also known as Black Angel, was the main antagonist of the Chapter Black Saga, as well as a former Spirit Detective in his youth, having been recruited by Koenma for his prodigious talents and his unequaled sense of right and wrong. In the anime television series, Sensui is voiced by Rokurō Naya in Japanese and Robert McCollum in English. Appearance Sensui is quite tall and thin. He has tan skin and an ovoid jewel in the middle of his forehead. He keeps his hair short, with a bang arching slightly over his forehead. He wears a casual long-sleeved dark shirt and dark jeans. During his younger years, he had a longer haircut and wore a long-sleeved Chinese-inspired garb. It was colored dark blue with white outlinings and buttons, complete with black shoes. Personality He is generally polite (sarcastic politeness in his Minoru state), kind and honorable as he respects Yusuke's friend's wishes to avenge his death. Shinobu also bears huge guilt over his killing, particularly over his executions of demons (who he killed without question). He looks sullen after killing Yusuke and is irritated when he is forced to kill demons once again. He does regret the path he took as he blindly slew demons in the name of humanity, to which he discovered were just as cruel. Known Personalities, other than Shinobu Sensui developed six other personalities to carry his various burdens, with the original personality staying pure. Four of these six are nameless (in the official story), and three of these four have tasks for which they were created. These 3 personalities were never named in the manga or anime. Togashi reveals their names in an interview; these are the only known names: * Minoru, is the orator and suave manipulator, and is in control for most of the Chapter Black saga. He was created to persuade the six other psychics to join his cause. He is described by Itsuki as a prideful man who talks too much. Of the known personalities, he is the second spiritually strongest after Shinobu. He shares his name with Minoru Kamiya, Sensui's comrade in the Chapter Black saga. His color in Shinobu's mind is light green (talking with his other personalities for the last time) or purple (when Itsuki talks about the other personalities, the one looking the calmest is purple which fits right with his trademark purple energy aura and attacks). * Kazuya is a violent foul-mouthed personality, formed in the wake of the breakdown Shinobu suffered upon crashing the Feast of Human Vices all those years ago. His emergence causes the formation of a gun barrel over his whole right hand, but he is not the strongest of the seven personalities. He was the killing specialist of the known personalities, deriving sadistic pleasure from incapacitating his victims, and was known to kill puppies and small children for his amusement. He says that he was created to do the dirty work; all the stuff that Shinobu and the others couldn't tolerate, much less do. As such, he is the physical manifestation of Shinobu's hatred towards humanity. He shares his name with Kazuya Hatanaka, the second husband of Shiori Minamino (Kurama's human mother). He is only second in physical strength to Shinobu. In Shinobu's mind, he is represented by the color red, likely for the bloodshed he causes. * An unnamed female personality, childish and sensitive, is in charge of Sensui's emotions, oftentimes emerging late at night to cry over the implications of the plan. But she appears to emerge only in front of Itsuki and, according to him, composes the most beautiful poetry he's ever heard. This personality is the one that he loves, second only to Shinobu, and he goes so far as to imply that the two of them are in love. Like Sensui, she cares about the Human Realm, but understands humans must die for their sins. Her color in Shinobu's mind is grayish green. Biography Sensui was born with a natural talent for sensing and destroying demons. His black and white view of the world and desire for justice made him a perfect candidate to become a spirit detective, and he quickly adapted to the job. Throughout his job as Spirit Detective, Sensui was partnered with Itsuki, much in the same capacity as Botan is to Yusuke; it's revealed that he was once to hunt him down, but Itsuki convinced him otherwise and then became his partner. Sensui had a simplistic perspective on his work; humans are good and should be protected, while demons are evil and must be killed. However, this sentiment was turned upside down when he crashed the Feast of Human Vices and witnessed the Black Black Club torturing demons for their own amusement. Horrified by what he had witnessed, his mind on the verge of snapping, Sensui flew into a rage and slaughtered everyone at the Feast of Human Vices. His black-and-white perspective of the world, and the true nature of humans, consumed his mind so much that he subconsciously developed dissociative identity disorder in an attempt to protect himself from the truths that his beliefs would not allow him to accept. Sensui then stole the Chapter Black tape from Spirit World's archives and fled to the Human World. With Itsuki, the two would assemble a team of seven psychics that was intended to help bring an end to the human race. Sensui first appears in the ruins of the Dark Tournament after being drawn by a mysterious energy signal from Elder Toguro, who then placed in a fishing tank to recover his power while informing the former Spirit Detective of his successor's actions. Knowing that there was now an opposition to his goals, Sensui would begin his opening of a tunnel to Makai to begin the end of humanity by enlisting five psychics to aid him, with Kaname Hagiri being the most loyal of his followers. After Yusuke's encounter with Murota, he would appear to the new Spirit Detective to introduce himself whilst ordering Sniper to wound the telepathic amateur boxer. He would then send Doctor and Seaman as guinea pigs to test Yusuke's morality and awaken Kuwabara's new power. After Koenma's explanation of his past, Sensui and Hagiri would appear to the protagonists with the implied intention of testing his power against Yusuke, who he manage to dominate with superior fighting style and energy manipulation; although it is truly to draw out Kuwabara so that he could be more easily captured by Gamemaster and Gourmet. Sensui would take a tactical retreat in the car Gamemaster was driving with Kuwabara held captive. Yusuke realizing this, would chase them with a bike, only to be stopped by Sniper; while Sensui and his group would escape to their hideout. After being saved by Hiei, the group enters the cave to combat in a intellectual and drawn-out battle with Gamemaster, Tsukihito Amanuma; resulting in the unfortunate death of the misguided child. Burning with new hate for Sensui, the group would enter the cavern holding the almost opened tunnel to Demon World to meet with Sensui, Itsuki, Sadao Makihara the Gourmet and a captive Kuwabara. Sensui knowing that his key to his goal was still powerless, he would decide to return him with the condition of the group defeating Gourmet. After easily dealing with "Gourmet" who turned out to be Elder Toguro who had long since taken over the witless man's body, Itsuki would separate the group by having his Uraotoko "devour" them and spit out Yusuke, so that he and Sensui could fight without interference. After a long and hard fought bout, Yusuke caught Sensui off-guard and used the opportunity to defeat him. In the midst of this battle, Sensui does the unexpected by firing a point-range energy blast through Yusuke, and then revealing a even more unexpected surprise, the "Sensui" he was fighting was one of his seven different personalities, being the suave Minoru, and he had been replaced by the psychotic and homicidal Kazuya. After a short dominance of both unpredicted sadism and insanity, Kazuya had defeated Yusuke in a few shots of his blasts, and was about to kill him, when Koenma shows up to attempt to have his former detective call off his ludicrous ambition or be sealed away forever by his Mafuken. With enough time, Yusuke recovers and easily beats Kazuya; forcing the gentle, yet brutally efficient original persona Shinobu to appear. In seconds, Shinobu manages to break Yusuke's arm, stomp on him several times, dodge his punches and shake his hand before he could even react, it became even worse when Shinobu revealed his true power:' Sacred Energy, '''an energy so powerful, it caused the cavern to crumble. After a short fight, Shinobu had become immune to Yusuke's attacks and even negated the Mafuken afterwards, when Koenma used it as a last resort. However, Yusuke refused to give up. Koenma tries to dissuade Yusuke from fighting Sensui, but he charges into battle anyway, asking Sensui to at least take his life with flash. Yusuke lands a kick and then hits Sensui with a barrage of punches, only for him to move out of the way. Meanwhile, Kuwabara uses his Dimensional Sword to break out of Itsuki's shadow dimension. Just as his friends escape, Sensui impales Yusuke with a single finger, sending Kuwabara and the others into a rage that jump their powers from B Class to A Class immediately. Hiei unleashes the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and Kurama transforms into his former self. Hiei's dragon pushes Sensui through the portal Itsuki opened. However, in the pseudospace, Sensui's sacred energy passess through the kakkei barrier. Hiei and Kurama, being A class demons, are unable to pass. In order to fight the spirit detective, Kuwabara uses the Dimensional Sword to cut the barrier, fitting right into Sensui's plan. They break through to kakkei and arrive in Demon World, Sensui transforms into his first battle armor, forcing Hiei to put all his strength in the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara unleash their most powerful attacks, but Sensui dodges and counters with elegant kicks, then uses Kurama's rose whip as a weapon. With all of them defeated, Yusuke comes through the barrier, riding on Pu with Koenma. Sensui senses great demon energy radiating from his body, and is amused by the fact that a demon hunter has become the demon. Hiei and Kurama attempt to stop Yusuke from fighting, but he confronts Sensui himself. The two clash energies, then proceed to melee fight, with Sensui gaining the upper hand. Yusuke fires a spirit gun, but it harmlessly curves from the target. Sensui dons a second armor, switching his strategy from defense to offense. As he and Yusuke fight, all of Sensui's personalities begin conversing. The energy they release cause demons to join their fight, forcing Sensui to slay them once more. The two decide to change locations, and Yusuke is fighting on par with Sensui, neither able to push each other back. Sensui manages to kick Yusuke a good distance, and Yusuke attempts to hide. However, his demon energy gives his location away and they continue to fight.Suddenly, Raizen takes over Yusuke's body and changes his appearance, as well as his power. Sensui is easily overpowered, bleeding from a punch to the face, and being pummeled. Raizen shoots a spirit gun, just as Yusuke begins taking control. Yusuke urges Sensui to move, but Sensui suffers a fatal blow from the blast. While Yusuke had ignorantly desired that his opponent be treated, Itsuki then reveals that he was to die in half a month anyway. Sensui tells the group that the apocalypse was never his true intention, it was to be killed by a demon to make amends with all the demons he had so naively killed without any thought of the consequences and felt for the first time, that he enjoyed his fight with Yusuke. After his death soon after, Itsuki takes his body away to a pseudo-space for them to be alone for all eternity.''Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 152 Powers and Abilities Fighting Style Resshūken (裂蹴拳, literally translated as Fissure Kick Fist) // Lightning Kickboxing: An elegant fighting style that is only available to fighters that have mastered all other forms of martial arts. This style is considered to be the strongest, most-elegant, school of martial arts in existence and relies on fast footwork in order to focus on fending off enemy attacks with the arms and using the legs to counterattack with powerful kicks. Genkai was the one to identify and name this fighting style during the first confrontation between Sensui and Yusuke. The English dubs pronounced it as Reshuyuken. By adding Spirit Energy to this style, Sensui created a new fighting style that he calls Reikō Resshūken (霊光裂蹴拳, literally translated as Spirit Light Fissure Kick Fist), which Kurama describes as "energy and style as one". Reiko Resshuken often involves him creating orbs of spirit energy with his hands, which he then kicks toward the opponent, giving them more offensive force. As Kazuya he fights in a more brutal, sadistic manner. His fighting style completely changes once he activates Sacred Energy, as it depends on which type of armor is activated: the ultimate defense or the ultimate offense. Known Techniques/Moves *'Resshū Kō Kyū Ha' (裂蹴紅球波, literally translated as Fissure Kick Crimson Ball Wave): This technique is Sensui's unusual variation of the Spirit Gun. He generates a ball of Spirit Energy, one strong enough to demolish an apartment suite, in one hand before kicking it. This technique appears to be the same one that he used to kill demons during his career as Spirit Detective. This attack is strong enough to completely neutralize Yusuke's Spirit Gun. There is no English dub name for this technique. *'Splinter Resshūken' (裂蹴紫炎弾, Resshū Shiendan, literally translated as Fissure Kick Violet Blaze Shots): Generating a field of energy that coalesces into a minefield of tiny energy spheres, Sensui then coalesces the balls into a powerful single energy sphere that he then kicks to his opponent. The scatter shot effect of this technique effectively ensures that the opponent gets hit at least once or more, and appears to display homing capabilities. *'Sacred Energy' (聖光気, Sei Kō Ki, literally translated as Saint Light Energy): A special type of energy that is said to be the purest and most-powerful kind, which Koenma calls the highest echelon of power. He also said that achieving the use of this type of power takes at least forty years of discipline and grueling training. But Sensui managed to cheat by dividing the forty year-training requirement amongst his other personalities, effectively managing to achieve this pinnacle in just six years. He then added that an extra requirement was that people had to be receptive to this power and possess a desire to correct the world around them, operating on a higher plane and transcending the physical realm, all of which were qualities that even Genkai did not have. :*It is from this mastery of spiritual power, that Sensui derives his codename from. By wrapping himself in it, Sensui is even able to fly and shield himself from any kind of damage dealt from most, if not all, A-class fighters, as seen when Hiei uses the Dragon of the Darkness Flame on him and all it did was push Sensui before burning out in the pseudospace. :*'Sacred Energy Armor' (気鋼闘衣 , Ki Kō Tō I, literally translated as Energy Steel Combat Cloth): Surrounding his body with Sacred Energy, Sensui can create two forms of battle armor: one for much greater defense, the other for much greater offense. While using the first suit of armor, Sensui was able to dominate Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara (after their powers had equaled that of A-class demons). But despite all that, Sensui's Sacred Energy Armor was not strong enough to defend against the newly-revived Yusuke's supercharged Spirit Gun, so he decided to switch to his Offensive Armor and increased his physical attacks to the point where the shock wave from a single punch can destroy an entire mesa in Demon World from a great distance away. :* Sacred Energy Muscle: With the pressure of Koenma's Mafuken increasing, Sensui harnesses the immense power of his Sacred energy, channeling it into his fist containing Koenma's pacifier. Raising his arm above his head, he utilizes the force his energy emits when it leaves his body to disintegrate the pacifier, disabling and obliterating the Mafuken's barrier net. As this occurs, in an awesome display of power, Sensui's Sacred Energy pierces the ceiling of Demon's Door Cave and travels upward through hundreds of feet of crust creating a cylindrical pit at the center of the city above. *'Twisted Twister' (裂破風陣拳, Reppa Fūjin Ken, literally translated as Fissure Break Wind Encampment Fist) or Aura Vortex: Sensui first spins around extremely fast and creates a strong tornado. The tornado then engulfs his opponent. Inside the tornado, the wind slices his opponent like a sharp knife. This technique is very similar to Jin's Torando Fist Explosion/an offensive version of the Wind Barrier. *'Energy Gun' (気硬銃, Ki Kō Jū, literally translated as Energy Hardening Gun): Never really named in the anime, both Japanese or English, this weapon is unique to the Sensui personality called Kazuya, the bloodthirsty killer created in the aftermath of the Feast of Human Vices that Sensui stumbled upon. When Kazuya comes out to play, Sensui's right hand is replaced with a gun barrel that automatically hardens Spirit Energy into the shape of a bullet. In the manga, this barrel simply protrudes from a cauterized stump, but emerges from a gunmetal mount that covers the stump of the right hand in the anime. The visible recoil demonstrated by this weapon indicates that this weapon is not meant for combat and, given Kazuya's sadistic nature, instead meant for up-close-and-personal torture sessions. Trivia * Sensui and his successor Yusuke are complete opposites in every possible sense, from their viewpoints to their actions. While Sensui treated his job as an honor, Yusuke saw his duty as more of a chore. Sensui is refined, polite and calm, whereas Yusuke is hotheaded, foulmouthed, and shows little to no respect for authority figures. Their fighting styles are different; where Sensui uses the elegant martial arts style of Resshūken that revolves around kicks, Yusuke uses a brash and unrefined street-fighting style centered around punches. * The aspect of Seichiro Hikawa of the Birdy the Mighty OVA is similar to him. * While Kamiya (Wrath), Makihara (Gluttony), Hagiri (Pride), Mitarai (Envy), Amanuma (Sloth), Itsuki (Lust) and Elder Toguro (Greed) represent the seven deadly sins of the Bible, the true Sensui (excluding Kazuya (Wrath), the unnamed female personality (Lust) and Minoru (Pride)) is devoid of any true sin, like a fallen angel who still upholds his duties even if they are warped from his original goals. Hence, his Black Angel title. * Chrollo Lucifer, a character from Yoshihiro Toagashi's other series Hunter X Hunter bares a resemblance to Sensui. References Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Male Characters Category:Sensui Seven